Calling For Climate Action Through The Watch

The 2022 World Monuments Watch

Nominations are now open for the 2022 World Monuments Watch, World Monuments Fund's (WMF) biennial program that draws on the potential of cultural heritage preservation to respond to today’s pressing global issues. Do you know a heritage place facing unique challenges from our changing climate? Nominate a site to the 2022 World Monuments Watch.

Today, we invite you to explore three projects that illustrate how climate change is reshaping our world and impacting the heritage places we value. In the face of an urgent environmental crisis, these Watch sites show how preservation can make a difference and promote global climate action.

Historic Sites of Kilwa

The historic sites of Kilwa in Tanzania are facing threats of coastal erosion and rising sea levels, exacerbated by the reduction of mangrove forests that once helped regulate the impact of water. 

The island's archaeological heritage was nominated to the 2008 Watch by the Antiquities Division of Tanzania's Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to raise local and international awareness of these threats and encourage the sites' preservation.

Through the Watch, WMF developed a project to integrate conservation with rehabilitation of traditional forest management systems as a strategy to protect and revitalize Kilwa's built history. 

Blackpool Piers

Blackpool Piers, located in the world’s first working-class resort town on the English coast, are beloved by a community contending with sea level rise.

In 2018, Blackpool's Municipal Authority, Blackpool Council, nominated Blackpool Piers to the Watch to encourage dialogue between all levels of governance and to advance collaborative solutions to the environmental threats the site is facing. 

Through the Watch, WMF joined with local partners to celebrate this heritage while raising awareness of climate impacts and the need for climate action.

Historic Water Systems of the Deccan Plateau 

The sustainable historic water systems of India’s Deccan Plateau are offering new hope amid a water crisis.

Representing nominations to the 2020 Watch from academic researchers in Delhi and local heritage enthusiasts, the water management systems of the Deccan Plateau can help societies respond to water scarcity by reinstating renewable water collection processes and avoiding its depletion in deep aquifers. 

Through the Watch, WMF is exploring how reactivating these historic water systems and updating traditional practices can help communities respond to climate change and build resilience for the future, changing our water consciousness and helping activate a new ethic of care and conservation.  

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